Mage
The mage is a DPS caster that specializes in burst damage and area of effect spells. Their primary role in a group is damage dealing and crowd control through the use of Polymorph, temporarily changing humanoids and beasts into harmless critters. At end-game levels, mages' damage is supplemented with spells like Counterspell, Remove Curse, and Spellsteal. Mages' utility spells also include conjuring food and drink and the ability to teleport to major cities and open portals for party members. In PvP, Mage deals ranged damage while using snare effects and Polymorph to control enemy players. As damage casters, primary stats are intellect, spell power, spell hit rating, spell haste and spell crit. Mages do not benefit any direct DPS increase from spirit and this stat should not be focused on, but can however provide extra mana regen which is somewhat handy for mana management. Lore Mages, the most common of arcanists, are found all over Azeroth. They focus on magic that creates and that changes things, most often with the purpose of damaging their enemies and boosting the power of their allies.World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, 59 Such beings can obtain a familiar, which is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a mage, while others choose to become focused mages.Alliance Player's Guide, 17 Mages also understand the workings of arcane energy so well that they can counter most magic with great effectiveness. An adept mage who has dedication to and natural predilection for one of the schools of specialization becomes more entrenched. At this point the mage chooses either evocation or transmutation as a preferred school, and casts spells from his chosen school. The mages of the Kirin Tor first mastered the arts of casting spells using the elements of ice and fire. Mages are also known for being able to summon elementals, usually water elementals, but can also summon air, earth and fire elementals as well.World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, 59, 60 The greatest mortal mage ever to live is the Naga Queen Azshara, who still lives. In fact, she may no longer be mortal.Dark Factions, 34 The first known mages on Azeroth were elves, before the breaking of the Well of Eternity and the Exile of the High Elves, who lived on the shores of the Well of Eternity and wielded its powers. Origins Early kaldorei civilization was defined by direct manipulation of magic drawn from the Well of Eternity to create and sustain their society. The constant use of the well attracted attention from Sargeras and the Burning Legion, and their coming resulted in a massive war known as the War of the Ancients. The war had grave consequences, for even though the combined might of Azeroth's mortal races were victorious, the continent of Kalimdor was shattered, and a swirling, raging miasma of sea storms flowed into the vacant area where the Well of Eternity used to reside. This Great Sundering caused the Well's waters to be permeated into the atmosphere and spread magic all over the world. This event convinced the majority of night elves to reject arcane magic and embrace Malfurion Stormrage's call for druidism. Many of the Highborne refused this lifestyle, and left in self-imposed exile to Lordaeron where they eventually founded their kingdom of Quel'Thalas and became the high elves. When their kingdom came under siege by the trolls of Zul'Aman the high elves agreed to teach one hundred humans the arts of magic in exchange for military aid from the human nation of Arathor. From these two races, the arcane arts have spread to various races all over Azeroth. Dalaran Once students of the Conjurers of Azeroth, this new order of mages had been forced to discover untapped magical forces to command in their war against the ruthless orcs. Although masters of their arts, the Conjurers who fell during the First War were unprepared for the rigors of warfare. Determined to avoid a similar fate, the mages began to undertake a regimen equally demanding on body and soul, thus dedicating themselves to the command of more aggressive and destructive magic. Whether in their sanctum at the Violet Citadel in Dalaran or on the many battlefields of Lordaeron, the mages are resolute in their efforts to defend the people.''Warcraft II'' manual, 47 The most powerful mages of the Eastern Kingdoms were perhaps the Archmagi of Dalaran. The city was transported to Northrend when the mages believed they were in danger. It now hovers in the skies over Crystalsong forest and is ruled by the Kirin Tor. The Kirin Tor are quick to recognize fellow mages as allies where outsiders must do more to prove themselves. Notable mages * Aegwynn * Antonidas * Nielas Aran * Azshara * Kel'Thuzad (now a lich) * Khadgar * Krasus * Medivh * Jaina Proudmoore * Rhonin * Illidan Stormrage (now a demon hunter) * Kael'thas Sunstrider (specifically a blood mage) * Modera * Lord Victor Nefarion Races The mage class can be played by the following races: * Gnomes receive a 5% increase to their Intellect with Expansive Mind, bringing them to 27 Intellect at level 1. Gear When first created, a mage was only able to wield staves and wands; one could later learn how to use daggers and one-handed swords from weapon masters in Stormwind and Darnassus for the Alliance, Undercity for the Horde. Wands go in the ranged slot and will continue to shoot once manually started, and do not require any form of ammunition. A mage can only wear cloth armor. Magi gear primarily for spell power and haste. An appropriate amount of Spell hit is maintained to ensure no spells miss. Spell crit is inferior to haste point-for-point, but is desired by mages using a fire specialization (specifically those with Master of Elements and Hot Streak). Spells Mages have a wide variety of spells which fall in to three schools of magic: arcane, fire and frost. All spell schools include damage spells. Arcane includes some crowd control and utility, and most Frost spells provide a movement-slow effect supplementing their damage. Fire spells are primarily damage-dealing spells, including direct single-target damage and area of effect damage. Many Fire spells include damage over time effects. Fire mages trust heavily on RNG in raid situations to proc Hot Streak. Frost spells are primarily single-target and area of effect damage-dealing spells, but with more emphasis on chilling effects. Nearly every frost spell has a chill or freeze effect that fully or partially immobilizes an enemy. This includes freezing it in place (called a root) or slowing its movement speed (called a snare). Frost specialized mages can further improve these chilling effects and increase frost damage output to respectable levels. Frost spells help the mage use kiting as a combat tactic. Arcane spells include single-target damage spells and utility. Arcane spells allow the mage to remove curses, provide crowd control, absorb damage, teleport himself or others to major capital cities, Slow Fall, Counterspell, buff players' intellect stat, save mana for later use in the form of mana gems, conjure food and water for himself or others, and provide many other conveniences. Arcane and Fire are the trees currently best suited to raid damage. Frost's snare effects and Ice Barrier make it the best leveling and PvP tree. Fire and Arcane specs lack some of the control and survival abilities that Frost provides to leveling and PvP. Talents Mage talents are split into 3 categories which mirror their 3 main spell types. Descriptions of the roles of mages who specialize in each talent tree are shown in parentheses. Arcane The arcane tree's damage focuses on Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles. Arcane can provide the greatest potential damage output mages can offer. Arcane mages can provide substantial burst damage with Arcane Power and Presence of Mind. Fire Fire's damage output is oriented around Living Bomb and Hot Streak. Living Bomb is an instant cast damage-over-time effect. Hot Streak is a triggered effect: whenever a Fire mage deals a critical strike, their next Pyroblast spell is instant. Fire is currently behind Arcane in single-target damage, but Living Bomb makes Fire vastly superior to Arcane in AoE situations. Fights in which players are forced to move frequently can also benefit Fire mages, as Firestarter allows you to move around with Scorch, Living Bomb and Hot Streak-enabled instant Pyroblasts, while Arcane mages can only use for Arcane Barrage (and sometimes Fire Blast) which is especially poor damage against bosses. The Fire talent tree provides some survival tools (primarily Cauterize). This has historically made the fire tree a good choice for high-end raiders who seek to maximize damage output, but poor in PvP due to Resilience's reduction of critical strike chance and Arena's survival requirements. Frost Frost specializes in crowd control and snaring foes with its various chills, allowing for powerful kiting, and provides good AoE capability. It is the most mana-efficient spec. Frost also has very high survivability, making Frost very popular PvP tree. However, it is far behind fire and arcane in terms of DPS. Frost is most effective in PvP, as Frost mages can learn Ice Barrier to protect themselves from damage and Deep Freeze to supplement their snare effects with a stun. Frost mages can also learn Summon Water Elemental, gaining a pet which has a Freeze ability similar to Frost Nova. Stats This is a list of the Mage's primary stats for level 80 raiding in order of importance. Not all stats have a min or a cap. Endgame expectations In a group or raid environment, mages are usually tasked with ranged DPS, AoE, Counterspell, Spellsteal, Crowd Control and finally provide food. With the introduction of patch 1.11, mages enjoyed a high degree of flexibility in the endgame. Previous to patch 1.11, it was expected that most mages would spend at least 11 talent points in the arcane tree for Evocation, as it is a quite powerful mana-regenerative spell. It was given free without the use of talent points. It should be mentioned that a build predominantly using the fire tree will usually contribute greater DPS in multiple-target encounters; those using a predominantly arcane tree will usually contribute greater DPS in single-target encounters; and finally, those using a predominantly frost tree will contribute a fair amount of control. The endgame mage also acts as a utility class, providing drink, food, buffs and portals. Originally, when it came to providing drink and food, mages were by some considered equal to "vending machines" or "pantries" due to their unique ability to create food and drink and provide them with no cost except mana and time. PvP PvP-wise, mages are considered "glass cannons" - a design philosophy which gives mages generous burst damage at the cost of generally low health and armor values. Aided by talents such as Presence of Mind and Arcane Power, they are one of the classes with the potential for dealing out the greatest amount of damage in the shortest amount of time. In group PvP, mages will stay back and focus on crowd control with Polymorph and pick off targets from range. Depending on the Battleground and the situation, mages typically AoE to prevent node captures or nuke flag carriers as fast as possible. In solo PvP, a skilled frost mage is a formidable opponent. Fire mostly consists of stuns and max damage output, but with the cost of time and mana. Arcane consists of medium damage output, at a low cost of mana and time. Arcane is most useful in battlegrounds if you freeze your opponent first. When an enemy approaches, or is attacking you, use Freeze, and then Blink away and attack. On average, your freeze ability gives you about 5+ seconds to attack. Trivia *Dr. Bill Lee, a re-occurring character from the TV Series 'Stargate SG-1' and 'Stargate Atlantis,' states that he plays a mage, and makes multiple references to the game, including Elwynn Forest. While his character's race is not explicitly stated, it's assumed from that statement that he plays a human. See also * Arcane magic * BC mage stamina gear * List of mages * Mage theorycraft * Mage (Warcraft II) * Mages as tanks * Spell power coefficients References External links }}|desc= }} }}|desc= }} ;General ;Guides ; ;barrens.chat Early gold farming and AOE grinding for Mages ;News Feb 4th 2012 at 4:00PM}} de:Magier it:Mage ja:Mage pl:Mage Category:Mages Category:Core classes Category:WoW classes Category:World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game Category:Alliance Player's Guide Category:Dark Factions Category:Classes